Engineering Inspiration Award

[Robocat1]

Our team won the EI award 3 years ago, at a regional we has submitted CA to. This year we won it in Detroit, where we had not submitted the CA. So, I don't think the judges see it as a runner-up, since we weren't competing for CA there.

Now, we are beginning process of finding the $$ to go to nationals! Tough since we've already raised over $20,000 and have no corporate sponsor to step in and save us!
We know from the year we won the regional CA that FIRST doesn't allow canceling an upcoming regional so teams can afford National registration, etc. We hope we can go to Atlanta!

I also have a question. I had thought that the EI award (national) made a team continuously qualified for future nationals, but I don't see that anywhere in the rules/qualifying info. Anyone know if this is true, or perhaps it was true in the past, but has changed?

Also, do all teams at nationals compete for the EI, or just those who won it at a regional?

Has any team ever won the EI at nationals who wasn't also competing for the CA?

Thanks to anyone who can help me figure any of this out!